Forensic pathology is pathology that focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. A post mortem examination is performed by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist, usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions. Coroners and medical examiners are also frequently asked to confirm the identity of remains.
Lisa McPherson was an American Scientologist who died in the care of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. After a minor traffic accident where McPherson seemed unharmed, she removed her clothes in the street and paramedics transported her to a local hospital. In order to avoid psychiatric intervention, local Scientologists convinced her to leave the hospital and seek care at the nearby Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization (FSO). There she was held against her will for 17 days without any medical care, while her physical and mental condition rapidly deteriorated and she died. Following the report by the state medical examiner that indicated that McPherson was a victim of negligent homicide, FSO was indicted on two felony charges, "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult" and "practicing medicine without a license." The charges were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident" on June 13, 2000. A civil suit brought by McPherson's family was settled on May 28, 2004.
Kathleen Joan Reichs is an American crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic. She is an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is well known for inspiring the television series Bones.
Dr. G: Medical Examiner is a reality television series that originally aired on Discovery Health Channel and Discovery Fit & Health. Dr. G, or Dr. Jan Garavaglia, was the Chief Medical Examiner with Florida's District Nine Medical Examiner's office in Orlando, Florida.
Michael M. Baden is an American physician and board-certified forensic pathologist known for his work investigating high-profile deaths and as the host of HBO's Autopsy. Baden was the chief medical examiner of the City of New York from 1978 to 1979. He was also chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations' Forensic Pathology Panel that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Baden's independent autopsy findings are often in conflict with the local authorities' opinions; as such, many consider him to be a headline-seeking physician as opposed to a legitimate source of information.
United States Army soldier Tracie Joy McBride was kidnapped, raped, and murdered on February 18, 1995. Louis Jones Jr., a former soldier and Gulf War veteran, was tried and convicted in the U.S. federal court system for kidnapping resulting in death. The crime was a federal case since it started on a military base, and the rape was the prime aspect to the murder which made it a capital offense. Jones, who was sentenced to death, argued that he should be spared execution due to the traumatic effects of Gulf War syndrome. His appeals were unsuccessful and he was executed by lethal injection in 2003.
"Autopsy" is a television series of HBO's America Undercover documentary series. Dr. Michael Baden, a real-life forensic pathologist, is the primary analyst, and has been personally involved in many of the cases that are reviewed.
Joshua Perper was a noted forensic pathologist and toxicologist. He served as the Chief Medical Examiner of Broward County, Florida for seventeen years, during which time he conducted autopsies on a number of famous individuals, including Anna Nicole Smith. Prior to his appointment to that position, he served as Allegheny County's Coroner serving metro Pittsburgh.
Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, she was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen Caylee for 31 days. According to what Cindy told the operators, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen Caylee for weeks. Casey later called the police and falsely told a police dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.
Mommy's Little Girl: Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate is a 2009 biographical true crime book by novelist Diane Fanning about 2-year-old Caylee Anthony’s disappearance from her Florida home in July 2008. This was the first book released about the case.
Belvin Perry Jr. is a personal-injury attorney and former chief judge of Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit. He was the presiding judge for the high-profile Casey Anthony murder trial.
Jose Angel Baez is an American criminal defense lawyer and author. He is known for representing high-profile defendants such as Casey Anthony, Aaron Hernandez, Mark Nordlicht, and Harvey Weinstein.
Michael W. Warren is an associate professor emeritus and forensic anthropologist, at the University of Florida. He formerly served as the William H. Garmany Term Professor of Human Rights & Social Justice in the Department of Anthropology, and as Assistant Director of the William R. Maples Center for Forensic Medicine. Dr. Warren is a retired diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. He was a board member of the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Anthropology (SWGANTH). He also served as a member of the Forensic Advisory Board of the International Committee for the Red Cross. From 2009 until his retirement, Dr. Warren was the director of the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, the University of Florida's forensic anthropology laboratory. The C.A. Pound Laboratory performs analyses of skeletal remains for many of the 24 medical examiner districts in the State of Florida.
Linda Drane Burdick was the Chief Assistant State Attorney at the Orange and Osceola County State Attorney's Office in Orlando, Florida. She was the lead prosecutor on the State of Florida vs. Casey Anthony case.
Werner Uri Spitz is a German-American forensic pathologist who has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the investigations of the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He also testified at the trials of Casey Anthony and Phil Spector, the 1996 civil trial against O. J. Simpson, and consulted on the investigation of JonBenét Ramsey's 1996 death.
Dorothy Clay Sims is an American lawyer and nationally renowned expert in medical expert cross examination. She is best known for her pro bono contributions to the defense and acquittal of Casey Anthony.
Judy Melinek is an American forensic pathologist and writer. She is a pathologist at the Wellington District Health Board and Chief Executive Officer of PathologyExpert Inc.
Michael D. Hunter is an American forensic pathologist is best known for his appearances in the television show Autopsy: The Last Hours of....
Janis Carol Amatuzio is an American forensic pathology specialist. She has authored books and has practiced forensic science for 20 years. Amatuzio is known as the "compassionate coroner".
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner is a non-fiction book written by Judy Melinek and T. J. Mitchell, a wife-and-husband writing team. In July 2001 two months before the September 11 attacks, Judy Melinek, MD, and her husband moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where she started training in forensic pathology at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. The book describes some of the 262 autopsies performed by Dr. Melinek during the two years of her training. As part of a medical team she examined the remains of many of the 9/11 victims. The book was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 2014.
